Throw away gas lighter

ABSTRACT

A throw away gas-lighter comprising a transparent plastic body, a fuel reservoir received in the body for rotational movement relative to the body and having gas flow adjusting means, an intermediate member secured to said body, a nozzle assembly including a tubular member secured to the intermediate member and a nozzle body secured to said reservoir for movement relative to the tubular member, an ignition mechanism operatively mounted on said intermediate member.

United States Patent 1 1 1 3,814,572 Nitta 1 June 4, 1974 l THROW AWAY GAS LIGHTER 3,213,648 10/1965 Racek 431/143 3,709.65 1 1973 B"'*' Y...' 43l I43 [76] Inventor: Kazuo Nitta, 416-6 Yamahara, 5 lamb Japan Primary Examiner-Carroll B. Dority, Jr. [22] Filed: Mar. 12, 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm0blon, Fisher, Spivak, Mc-

C ll M' 1211 Appl. No.: 340,604

[57] ABSTRACT Foreign Application Priority Data A throw away gas-lighter comprising a transparent Mar. 14. 1972 Japan 47-29935 plastic body, a fuel reservoir received in the body for July 10 1972 Japan 47-80581 rotational movement relative to the body and having gas flow adjusting means, an intermediate member se- [52] U.S. Cl 431/143, 431/254, 431/276 cured to said body, a nozzle assembly including a tu- [51] Int. Cl. F23q 2/00 bular member secured to the intermediate member [58] Field of Search 43 l/l43, 254, 176, 177 and a nozzle body secured to said reservoir for movemerit relative to the tubular member, an ignition [56] References Cited mechanism operatively mounted on said intermediate UNITED STATES PATENTS member- 3121629 l2/l963 vim Poppel 431/143 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures A XII I I I I [Al I I I [)(I I I SHEU [1F 3 Eli MTENTEDJUN 41914 SHEET 3 or 3 155-5. J15- 7.

I 1 THROW AWAY GAS LIGHTER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a throw away gas-lighter and more particularly, a throw away gas lighter which comprises a transparent or substantially transparent body and a transparent or substantially transparent fuel reservoir received in the body for rotational movement relative to the body and having gas flow adjusting means.

There have been proposed a great variety of gaslighters, but most of the prior art gas-lighters comprise a metal body and a metal fuel reservoir received in the body and therefore, the fuel within the reservoir could not be seen from the exterior of the lighter.

Although plastic gas-lighters have been proposed, in any of the prior art plastic gas lighters the body or casing concurrently serves as the fuel reservoir. Therefore, the prior art plastic gas-lighters are advantageous over the metal gas-lighters in that the fuel within the reservoir can be seen from the exterior of the lighters, but

still has the disadvantage that decorative or printed materials can not be applied to the exterior of the lighter body because the body is cylindrical in configuration.

And when the flame opening is defined by a plastic component, the plastic flame-opening-defining component is easily scorched or melted away by the flame to give an unpleasant appearance to the lighter.

The friction wheel in any of the prior art gas-lighters is formed with a square through hole and mounted on a support part of the body of the lighter by means of a pin or shaft extending the square hole. Such a prior art friction wheel has the disadvantages that the wheel 'requires the processing work for drilling the square hole, the pin or shaft has to be separately prepared and the assembly of the friction wheel requires the work for passing the pin or shaft through the hole.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a throw away gas-lighter which can effectively eliminate the disadvantages inherent in the prior art gas-lighters referred to hereinabove and at the same time has advantages over the prior art gas-lighters.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a throw away gas-lighter which comprises a body or casing formed of transparent or substantially transparent material and a gas fuel reservoir formed of transparent or substantially transparent material and received within the body for manual rotational movement relative to the body and in which a clearance is defined by the body and reservoir for receiving an indication material such as an advertisement material so that advertisement effect can be simply obtained without the necessity for any external printing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a throw away gas-lighter which comprises a body or casing and agas fuel reservoir received within the body for manual rotation relative to the body and provided with gas flow adjusting means at the outer end which extends beyond an adjacent part of the-body for access so that the adjustment of gas'flow from the reservoir can be effected by turning the reservoir by means of the adjusting means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a gas-lighter in which the plastic at the area adjacent the flame opening formed in the plastic cap of the lighter is protected against scorch or melting so that the gas-lighter will have an extended service life.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a throw away gas-lighter which includes, a friction wheel assembly comprising a main friction wheel and a pair of separate opposite synthetic resin operation wheels which sandwich the main friction wheel therebetween and the wheel components of the friction wheel assembly can be separately produced and then assembled in a quite simple manner so that the friction wheel assembly can be produced on a mass production basis at a relatively less expense.

The above and other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show a preferred embodiment of the invention for illustration purpose only, but not for limiting the scope of the same in any way.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the throw away gas-lighter constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of said gas-lighter of FIG. 1 in partially longitudinal section;

FIG. 3 is a vertically sectional view of the upper portion of said gas-lighter on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along substantially the line IVIV of FIG; 2;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of said gas-lighter;

FIG. 6 is a partially sectionalview of the ignitition mechanism of the gas-lighter;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the friction wheel assemblyon an enlargedscale; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective elevational view of a modified form of body employed in the gas-lighter.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The present invention will be now described referring to the accompanying drawings, which show one preferred form of liquefied gas-lighter'of the invention. The gas-lighter generally comprises an elongated hollow cylindrical body or casing l which is formed of transparent or substantially transparent plastic and has a substantially oval cross-section as seen in transverse direction, a circular cross-section fuel reservoir 2 telescopically received in the body 1 for manual rotational movement relative to the body 1 and formed of transparent or substantially transparent plastic and an ignition mechanism 3 adapted to ignite the liquefied gas spouring from the fuel reservoir 2.

The body 1 is provided at the bottom with a circular opening 6 through which a boss 5 intergrally formed with the bottom of the reservoir 2 extends for access and the boss is provided with a diametrical notch in the outer or exposed face for manual rotation of the reser- 3 voir. The purpose of the notched boss 5 on the reservoir is to control the amount of gas which is to be supplied to the ignition mechanism 3. The reservoir 2 is received in the body 1 in eccentric to the body 1 so that a clearance 7' is provided between the reservoir and one wall of the body 1 and a suitable advertisement material 8 is disposed in the clearance 7 in such a manner that the advertisement material can be seen through the body 1 from outside.

A metal intermediate member 9 is fit on the upper portion of the body 1 and supersonically welded to the body at 4 and a plastic cap 10 is fitted in the intermediate member 9. The cap 10 has a flame opening 12 in the top of the cap and a metal eyelet 13 of U-shaped cross-section as seen in vertical direction is fitted in the flame opening 12 with the upper and lower flanges of I the eyelet abutting against and secured to the upper and lower surfaces of the top of the cap 10 so that the flame-opening defining area of the plastic cap-is protected against the flame by the eyelet.

The intermediate'member 9 has a radially and inwardly extending annual flange 14 for receiving a nozzle of which description will be made hereinbelow. The reservoir 2 filled with a predetermined amount of liquefied gas 17. v

A burner support body 18 is fitted in the upper open portion of the gas reservoir 2 and as shown in FIG. 3,

the burner body has a substantially U-shaped crosssection. The bottom 19 of the burner support body 18 or the arm of the U-shape is provided with a center orifice 20 through which the gas 17 from the reservoir 2 is passed to a burner assembly 21 which is received in the burner support body 18.

The burner support body 18 has at the upper end a radially and outwardly extending integral annular flange 22 which has an outer face 23 where the burner support body is secured to the upper portion of the reservoir 2 at 4a by supersonic welding for rotational movement therewith. The inner surface of the upper portion of the burner support body or the intergral flange 22 thereof is threaded for receiving the burner assembly in the manner as will be described hereinbelow. v v

In assembling the principal components of the gaslighter, first of all, the gas reservoir 2 is filled withthe liquefied gas 17 in any suitable conventional manner to a desired or predetermined amount, the burner support body 18 having the burner assembly 21 mounted therein in thread engagement with the threaded inner surface of the support body 18 is fitted in the open upper portion of the reservoir 2 and the burner support body 18 and reservoir 2 are supersonically welded together in the manner as mentioned hereinabove. Thereafter, the sub-assembly is fitted in the inermediate member 9 which has been previously supersonically welded to the upper portion of the body 1.

The intermediate member 9 is formed thicker at one peripheral edge (the right-hand edge 26 as seen in FIG. 3) than the diametrically opposite peripheral edge and the thicker peripheral edge 26 is formed a flint opening 28 therein. A coiled spring 29' is received in the flint opening 28 and a flint 27 is also received in the opening 28 over the spring 29 to be normally urged outwardly thereby. A friction wheel assembly 29 is rotatably mounted on the intermediate member 9 by means of bosses 31 and 31 in friction engagement with the flint 27. For supporting the friction wheel assembly 29 on the intermediate member 9, a pair of integral ears 30 and 30 project upwardly from the thick peripheral edge 26 of the intermediate member 9 and the abovementioned bosses 31 are supported in the ears 30.

The friction wheel assembly 29 is more clearly shown in FIG. 7 of the accompanying drawings. Referring now to FIG. 7, the wheel assembly comprises a main wheel body 36 having the opposite ends faces 33 and 33 which are formed therein with a center recess 34, respectively and the periphery of the main wheel body provides the abrasive surface which frictionally engages the flint 27. Thus, when the friction wheel assembly 29 is rotated in the ignition direction, sparks are struck between the main wheel assembly and flint to ignite the fuel spourting from the nozzle 42 of the burner assembly 21.

The friction wheel assembly 29 further includes a pair of opposite synthetic resin operation wheels 38 and 38 which have on the inner surfaces cylindrical knuried center bosses 37 to be received in the recesses 34 in the main wheel body 36 and on the outer surfaces the abovementioned bosses 31. Each of the operation wheels 38 has a larger diameter than the main wheel body 36 and the inner surface of the operation wheel is formed with an annular projection 38 extending along the peripheral edge the inner diameter of which is substantially the same as the outer diameter of the main wheel body 36 to define a circular recess so that the opposite ends 36a of the main wheel body are fitted in the recesses in the operation wheels. The friction wheel assembly 29 which has been fabricated by fitting the main wheel body 36 in the opposite operation wheels 38 is then mounted on the ears 30 on the intermediate member 9 thereby to complete the assembly of the friction wheel assembly 29 to the intermediate member and in consequence, to the body 1.

An actuation lever 39 is pivotally mounted on the intermediate member 9 right below the friction wheel assembly 29 and the lever has an outer manipulation end 40 and a bifurcated inner end 41 which engages the nozzle 42 under a bulged portion 46 formed adjacent the upper end 45 of the nozzle.

The burner assembly 21 of which the nozzle 42 is a component is more clearly shown in FIG. 3 and comprises a tubular member 43 which is threaded in the burner support body 18 and through which the nozzle 42 entends upwardly. Thus, when the actuation lever 39 is operated by depressing the outer end 40, the bifurcated inner end 41 of the lever is raised to pull the nozzle upwardly against the force of a spring on the nozzle 42 which in turn upwardly pulls a valve 47 positioned below the nozzle 42 so as to communicate a gas passage 48 with the fuel reservoir 2 whereby the fuel gas from the reservoir is permitted to spourt out of the nozzle opening 44.

The nozzle valve 47 is received in a valve box 49 which is in turn received in the tubular member 43 and a filter member 50 comprising a stack of sheep skin or paper layers is also received in the tubular member 43 right below the valve box 49 normally under compression.

Thus, when the fuel reservoir 2 which is integrally secured to the burner support body 18 is turned in one or the other direction, the burner body 18 is turned relative to the tubular member 43 by virtue of the thread engagement between the burner support body and tubular member which in turn varies the compressive force acting on the filter member 50 so as to adjust the spourting amount of the fuel gas 17. That is, when the reservoir 2 is turned in the filter member compressing direction so as to extinguish or reduce the flame, the flow of gas is stopped or reduced and on the other hand, when the reservoir is turned in the filter member releasing direction, the filter member is released of the compressive force thereon whereby the flow of the gas is allowed or increased thereby to increase the flame.

F IG. 8 shows a modification of the body or casing of the gas-lighter of the invention as described in connection with FIGS. 1 through 7. The body 51 of FIG. 8 has a construction which tapers from the left-hand end toward the right-hand end (as seen in F IG. 8) and the remaining portions of the modified body are substantially identical with the corresponding portions of the foregoing embodiment. However, it is to be understood that the configuration of the body of the gas-lighter of the invention is not limited to those shown and described hereinabove and can be embodied in any desired shape.

As clear from the foregoing, it will be noted that by turning the fuel reservoir 2 in one or the other direction, the gas flow is adjusted and the flame opening is protected against the flame by the metal eyelet. In addition, since the friction wheel assembly comprises separate main wheel and operation wheels, the parts of the friction wheel can be easily and simply assembled.

Furthermore, since the advertisement material such as a printed matter is simply disposed between the fuel reservoir and body without the necessity for external printing, the advertising effect can be easily attained.

While only one preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be understood that the same is for illustration purpose only and not to be taken as a definition of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A throw away gas-lighter comprising a plastic body or casing; a plastic fuel reservoir received in said body for rotational movement relative to the body and having gas flow adjusting means; an intermediate member secured to the upper portion of said body and having an inwardly and radially extending flange at the upper end and a thicker peripheral edge in which a flint assembly is received; a burner support body secured to the upper portion of said reservoir and has an internally threaded portion; a nozzle assembly received within said burner support body and secured at the upper portion to said flange of the intermediate member, said burner assembly having an externally threaded portion in engagement with said internally threaded portion of the burner support body so as to allow the reservoir and burner support body assembly to rotate relative to the lighter body; a nozzle manipulation lever having an outer mainipulation end and an inner end engaging said noule assembly; a friction wheel assembly rotatably mounted in said intermediate member above said flint assembly; and a plastic cap fitted in the upper portion of said intermediate member and having a flame openmg.

2. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said gas flow adjusting means comprises a boss extending downwardly through an opening formed in the bottom of said lighter body and a notch formed in the outer face of said boss.

3. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said friction wheel assembly comprises a main friction wheel having a center knurled recess in each of the opposite end faces thereof and a pair of opposite synthetic resin operation wheels each having a center boss on the outer face to be supported in said intermediate member, a center boss on the inner face to be received in each of said recesses in the main wheel and an annular projection extending along the periphery thereof the inner diameter of which is substantially the same as the diameter of said main wheel so as to define a circular recess for receiving each end face of the main wheel.

4. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which a metal eyelet is disposed within and secured to said flame opening so as to protect the opening against the flame.

5. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said fuel reservoir is received within said ligh- ,ter body in an eccentrical relationship to the body so as to provide a clearance therebetween and an advertisement material is disposed in said clearance so that the advertisement material can be seen from the exterior of the lighter body. 

1. A throw away gas-lighter comprising a plastic body or casing; a plastic fuel reservoir received in said body for rotational movement relative to the body and having gas flow adjusting means; an intermediate member secured to the upper portion of said body and having an inwardly and radially extending flange at the upper end and a thicker peripheral edge in which a flint assembly is received; a burner support body secured to the upper portion of said reservoir and has an internally threaded portion; a nozzle assembly received within said burner support body and secured at the upper portion to said flange of the intermediate member, said burner assembly having an externally threaded portion in engagement with said internally threaded portion of the burner support body so as to allow the reservoir and burner support body assembly to rotate relative to the lighter body; a nozzle manipulation lever having an outer mainipulation end and an inner end engaging said nozzle assembly; a friction wheel assembly rotatably mounted in said intermediate member above said flint assembly; and a plastic cap fitted in the upper portion of said intermediate member and having a flame opening.
 2. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said gas flow adjusting means comprises a boss extending downwardly through an opening formed in the bottom of said lighter body and a notch formed in the outer face of said boss.
 3. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said friction wheel assembly comprises a main friction wheel having a center knurled recess in each of the opposite end faces thereof and a pair of opposite synthetic resin operation wheels each having a center boss on the outer face to be supported in said intermediate member, a center boss on the inner face to be received in each of said recesses in the main wheel and an annular projection extending along the periphery thereof the inner diameter of which is substantially the same as the diameter of said main wheel so as to define a circular recess for receiving each end face of the main wheel.
 4. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which a metal eyelet is disposed within and secured to said flame opening so as to protect the opening against the flame.
 5. The throw away gas-lighter as set forth in claim 1, in which said fuel reservoir is received within said lighter body in an eccentrical relationship to the body so as to provide a clearance therebetween and an advertisement material is disposed in said clearance so that the advertisement material can be seen from the exterior of the lighter body. 